Mount. Garfield. Part of the Bookcliff range. The Bookcliff's got thier name because the rock strata look like the pages of a book.
Mt. Garfield is a little more than six thousand feet high. Mt. Garfield is part of the Little Bookcliffs that extend all the way to Provo, UT. There is enough oil in the book cliffs to supply the U.S. with oil for 11 days. There is also enough gas in the book cliffs to supply the U.S. with gas for 257 days. Most of these mountains are made up of Mancos shale. The top of these cliffs have a layer of Mesa Verde Sandstone.
The Bookcliffs are one of the best places to study sequence stratigraphy. In the 1980's Exxon scientists used strata of the Cretaceous era from Mt. Garfield to develop the science of sequence stratigraphy. The Bookcliffs also have strata from the foreland basin of the western interior seaway. Components of deltaic and shallow marine reservoirs are very well preserved in the Bookcliffs as well.
The nearby town of Palisade was named for the spires (palisades) of rock on the south facing part of mount Garfield. These spires occur because the boulders that fall from the rim of mount Garfield act as a shield or hat for the shale below it. As the unprotected shale erodes away it leaves the boulder isolated and supported in the air by a spire of shale.
The common types of fossils that are found here are: trilobites, brachiopods, and gastropods.
Mount Garfield
Mt. Garfield is a little more than six thousand feet high. Mt. Garfield is part of the Little Bookcliffs that extend all the way to Provo, UT. There is enough oil in the book cliffs to supply the U.S. with oil for 11 days. There is also enough gas in the book cliffs to supply the U.S. with gas for 257 days. Most of these mountains are made up of Mancos shale. The top of these cliffs have a layer of Mesa Verde Sandstone.
The Bookcliffs are one of the best places to study sequence stratigraphy. In the 1980's Exxon scientists used strata of the Cretaceous era from Mt. Garfield to develop the science of sequence stratigraphy. The Bookcliffs also have strata from the foreland basin of the western interior seaway. Components of deltaic and shallow marine reservoirs are very well preserved in the Bookcliffs as well.
The nearby town of Palisade was named for the spires (palisades) of rock on the south facing part of mount Garfield. These spires occur because the boulders that fall from the rim of mount Garfield act as a shield or hat for the shale below it. As the unprotected shale erodes away it leaves the boulder isolated and supported in the air by a spire of shale.
The common types of fossils that are found here are: trilobites, brachiopods, and gastropods.
Citations:
- http://books.google.com/books?id=6Oq--aMaSu4C&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=mt+garfield+rock+layers+grand+junction&source=
web&ots=qWfMA6ATKb&sig=XTeAXVGWbFmWKy2xlA0bTPbTh4k&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA36,M1